You have correctly framed your question with the introductory statement of 'with all of the hype'. It is actually media hype that jumped on the name God particle. Scientists are not happy with it. Other much more appropriate names have been suggested but unfortunately this one has been picked up and spread. It should properly be called the Standard Model Higgs Boson. Finding it will just verify the predictions of the Standard Theory and not unlock the secrets of Creation.
There are no religious overtones except the constant one of seeing God's greatness in the physical world possessing such subtle intricacies. There is another point and that is related to the fact that there are two 3,000-person teams working independently on the Higgs Boson research with CERN's LHC. Isn't it marvelous to have that many people interested in such a small part of God's creation?
One has to be careful with the claim of replicating conditions at the time of creation by the LHC. It only refers to generating extremely energetic particles and only for the briefest period of time. No one has duplicated creation ex nihilo - something from nothing!
Yes, the world is certainly being filled with knowledge of God but the more we learn the more we see we do not understand.