Pete, it is true that Hoyle rejected the big bang partly because it seemed an irrational process, and implied a creator (also partly because Martin Ryle supported it, and Hoyle and Ryle didn't get on). But Hawking and Penrose showed that the big bang could start from a singularity, which could be mathematically described. This was Hawking's first great achievement, his second being pair production near the event horizon, and eventual evaporation of black holes. But when you say that initially the big band was rejected because it was seen to imply a creator, this was largely one man (Hoyle).