Actually, I think it is possible that the "something" and "nothing" stress might well be at the root of religious impulses.

You won't find the entity known as the spirit within the framework of time and space, so if you are convinced that existence is identical with matter, energy and space-time, then you're bound to conclude that such things as the human spirit are non-existent.

Should you be among the minority who admit existences byond the material universe, then you may find the spirit is actually "something" (meaning an existent thing) even though it is not a matter-and-energy "thing".

Ya pays yer money and ya takes yer cherce.