[John Locke]

The evidence that matter has existed only for a finite time is far stronger than the evidence for evolution, ID, or any religious creation myth.

I disagee. There is strong evidence for a pastward singularity. But the very existence of that singularity implies that it is unknowable what might, or might not, have come before it. Creation ex nihilo is therefore an article of faith, in science just as in religion.

[Physicist]

But the very existence of that singularity implies that it is unknowable what might, or might not, have come before it.

The point is that matter as such loses its structure before you even get back to the singularity, and even the energy goes away by the time you get there. The matter we see is of finite origin under any viable model of the universe, even the steady-state theories.