bzrd here: Matter coming into existance with out cause can be classified as a super-natural event as there is no known mechanism by which creation "ex nihilo" is possible. Given that God is a spiritual being, and cause/effect is a consequence of space-time and matter, cause is not a prerequisite for His existance. ----- Hawking himself insisted that conservation laws would not apply before the big bang (it's not even correct to say "before the big bang" because time didn't exist before the big bang). I don't think it's faith because God isn't necessary as an explanation. No mechanism could ever be postulated because mechanisms involve a stepwise process IN time. In the absence of time, I don't see how any mechanism could occur.

I think both explanations God created the universe or the universe creating itself are equally inconceivable (or as you put it, both leaps of faith). Essentially, things aren't proven either way, for or against a supreme deity. Um, aren't we agreeing here... sort of?