Socratus,

The idea that "consciousness" is a priori to materiality was explored by David Bohm, the physicist. I expect Talbot cites his book on "Implicate Order". However to equate such "conciousness" with "God" is a secondary move which involves an additional aspect of "beneficient divinity" to what might otherwise be merely thought of as a "field effect". In that sense, the security aspects of such holistic consciousness are a matter of "faith" rather than rationality in the face of the actual sordid history of the activities of religious "believers", or the "indifference of nature" to suffering.

It is the childish nature of such "faith", epitomised by phrases like "God the Father", or "We are all God's children" which atheists find ridiculous.