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1) Accelerates protons to a velocity EXTREMELY CLOSE to the speed of light so they can crash into other protons and particles (all smaller than atoms) and their combined energy and a few other conserved properties of the colliding particles can be transformed into elementary particles (protons are made of smaller particles including quarks and gluons) and the physicists can learn a bit more about the machinery of the physical universe.
2) As a Christian, I am well aware of an entire spiritual dimension not touched by these theories ... but I still find the knowledge valuable and interesting.
3) To date, CERN has been a total failure at discovering the so-called "Dark matter" postulated as a fudge factor by the cosmologists. Probably because it doesn't exist.
4) The famous Higgs Boson was discovered at CERN a few years ago, which was probably the biggest reason it was constructed to such a large scale. The discovery of Higgs (which had been predicted mathematically) essentially completed the experimental proof of the so-called "Standard Model of Particle Physics" a major achievement of the last few decades. I suspect they are scrambling now to find justifications for continued funding at such high levels. That's the ups and downs of the particle physics profession.
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Sorry, L.J., but you asked ... and it's one of my favorite subjects. Don't tell Bags I went nerd again.
I appreciate you answer, even though my mind is too feeble to really know what you are saying. ;-D No, really, I do appreciate your explanaion, gives me a clue which I really didn’t have before.