Leon Lederman, who popularized the phrase "God particle" with his book,

http://www.amazon.com/The-God-Particle-Universe-Question/dp/...

has some serious street cred as a physicist

http://www.nobelprize.org/nobel_prizes/physics/laureates/198...

and as a promoter science education reform. (I heard him speak on the latter subject in my town at a science museum a few years ago.) I agree with you that a term like that probably needs explanation in a popular article about physics, but I can think of much more harmful terms in popular articles about science.

There is a great book about the Higgs boson called 'The God Particle'(http://www.amazon.com/God-Particle-Universe-Answer-Question/...) I haven't read the new version, but I thoroughly enjoyed the original book, highly recommended.