Q. Would an uneducated people still pay for their children to be shackled up somewhere in the name of 'rehabilitation' by a man who promises answers if there was no religion?
Q. Does the presence of a Higgs-Boson in the universe give people a sense of belonging, community and belief in an afterlife?

Glad it's making you ask questions.

A huge YES to "sense of belonging" and "community".

As to "Afterlife" there are films about that. I'm primarily thinking of event horizon, but there are many others.

*edit* - no ones going to see my unstealthy edit now it's bumped to the previous page

How so and in what sense? Are people going to gather together and hear what's going on in their community, check up on the elderly members of their groups, keep an eye on drunken youth and make sure they're safe at the weekends?
I rather suspect the 'community' is probably going to take the form of some people feeling clever online, or failing that, the top 0.5% of minds gathering occasionally to discuss things the other 99.5% of us can't fully comprehend.

That sounds like the Catholic Church to me, depending on your interpretation of "top minds".

Yeah... an elite of people who claim to know things the rest of don't about the universe and our place in it?
At least in church you get a good singalong going.

I posted the article about the Higgs Boson because it talks about vanishing probabilities and evidence.

I would dispute that adjective sometimes...

... especially when Graham Kendrick or Matt Redman is involved.

Indeed, and there's still quite a lot of 'we don't really know' in the article.
In time, I'm sure things will become clearer.

That's begging the question. You say it's a human concept, they say it's a divine one. But your claim assumes they are wrong and that you are right without going to the effort of being demonstrably right.

If they are right you cannot possibly observe that empirically. Therefore you cannot have empirical knowledge that they are not right. Therefore you need to stop, it's a futile pursuit. Therefore the fundamental axioms of your investigation are clearly unsound, and that means it is an outrage against science to make scientific claims about such matters.

Stop it already.

I'm sure there will be a song about this soon enough. There's a great tradition of science singalongs.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9Cd36WJ79z4

And maffs:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VqpWETqoD5Q

(That song is long, if a little irrational)

"Sharia police halt rock gig to shave punks’ heads for "re-education""

Exoplanet ranking suggests INTERSTELLAR WAR imminent

Too late to recall idiotic message beamed at alien star

http://www.theregister.co.uk/2011/11/24/exoplanet_habitability_rankings/

Thanks, science.

Quite.