The theological significance of there being a beginning (whether universe or multiverse, young or old) is evidently understood by some scientists who, not willing to humble themselves before the obvious, torture their own theories for the purpose of denying God as Creator:
In my {always humble) opinion, you may have put an unintended spin on Hawking when you quoted him saying this:
Although the laws of science seemed to predict the universe had a beginning, they also seemed to predict that they could not determine how the universe would have begun. This was obviously very unsatisfactory. So there were a number of attempts to get round the conclusion, that there was a singularity of infinite density in the past...I take that to mean that it's "unsatisfactory" to have a problem with no solution. So they strive for further understanding. That's how science reacts to any problem. It's not necessary to assume a theological -- or rather, anti-theological -- intent on such curiosity.