system
Given the following post, respond as if you're commenting on Reddit:
human
ELI5: Matter can neither be created nor destroyed?

How is this true according to events such as the big bang? Does this conflict with religious beliefs or are there some loopholes that I am unaware of?

EDIT: Thank you to all who responded, and have helped me understand this more. On the topic of energy has always been there though, I have a similar question: If energy has always been present, what factor does entropy and equilibrium play in this grand scheme?
gpt
*Energy* cannot be created or destroyed, it can only change form. 

Some hypotheses suggest the big bang was caused by a lot of energy reaching a critical capacity to burst out and create matter.

There is plenty here to conflict with religious beliefs since many of those were created before we had scientific observations to model the big bang. Some religious groups change to include the big bang, and others continue to deny it. It's really up to them.