Many are keen to prove that the universe literally came from “nothing”. Such an explanation could render God’s role unnecessary, but all attempts must equivocate on the word “nothing” to achieve this aim. Vacuum states are not “nothing” they are most certainly “something”.
Blake Ostler explains:
[T]he concept of the “nothing” that existed “prior to” the big bang must be clarified. The quantum vacuum that exists prior to the big bang and which transcends our space-time universe is a seething ocean of physical activity – the ultimate chaos. The quantum vacuum is not “nothing”.
The most important impact of quantum physics upon big bang cosmology is that the idea of “absolute nothing” is physically impossible. First, even absolutely empty space itself – if it were possible — is viewed in modern physics as “something,” a field possessing its own physical properties having an actual mass-energy. The texture of empty space is described by the laws of quantum mechanics as fine-grained and foamy. Space can be bent, stretched, shrunk, warped, vibrated and knotted. However, any region of empty space-time is still the result of the big bang. Further, “prior to” the big bang, before space-time as we know it existed, there was nevertheless a quantum vacuum that existed in non-measured superspace-time.
“Absolute nothing” is physically impossible because there is always the probability of wave-particles smaller than the Planck constant occurring even in the absence of any other physical reality. Instead, “nothing” is described in quantum theory as a quantum vacuum. This vacuum is not a negation of any physical states of affairs whatsoever as required by the doctrine of creatio ex nihilo.
The quantum theory prohibits us from suggesting that there could be absolutely “nothing.” Quantum theory requires us to admit that even in the absence of space-time altogether, there is a quantum vacuum that is buzzing and alive with the energy manifested as “virtual particles.” This vacuum is the perfect description of chaos because it is the lowest energy state in which an entire system can reside.
Blake T. Ostler. The Doctrine Of Creation Ex Nihilo Is A Big Fuss Over Nothing
Similarly, in David Albert’s review of one attempt to prove the universe came from nothing, writes:
Where, for starters, are the laws of quantum mechanics themselves supposed to have come from? Krauss is more or less upfront, as it turns out, about not having a clue about that. He acknowledges (albeit in a parenthesis, and just a few pages before the end of the book) that everything he has been talking about simply takes the basic principles of quantum mechanics for granted.
…It happens that ever since the scientific revolution of the 17th century, what physics has given us in the way of candidates for the fundamental laws of nature have as a general rule simply taken it for granted that there is, at the bottom of everything, some basic, elementary, eternally persisting, concrete, physical stuff.
David Albert. On the Origin of Everything. 2012
While not all explanations of the universe coming from nothing aim to disprove the existence of God, any explanation which relies on there being “nothing” before the Big Bang, is scientifically inaccurate.
There was certainly “something” before the Big Bang.