It's not like I can prove anything or that I'm particularly well read on such things but I lean more towards the theory that some epic accident created life (big bang or whatever) rather than God designing everything.
If there is indeed a God, I'd prefer to think he/she/it is an artist rather than a caretaker. They made a bunch of amazing stuff, then sodded off some place else to start another project while meanwhile here, everything goes to shit. If they truly are here witnessing and causing all this stuff- we're all in trouble I would say.
With regards to consciousness- I don't see why this is something that couldn't have evolved as well. Animals have brains afterall- it's not like we have anything that massively different inside of us.
Say a monkey swinging around 7 million years ago starts to realise that the ape staring back in the pool of water is himself. Rather than go apeshit and try and kill the puddle, he decides to take a bit of extra time grooming and gets shredded. A female comes along, likes what she see's and boom- baby apes with slightly better IQ's- both from genetics and learned behaviour- Daddy teaches them not to go berserk at reflections. An oversimplification but in millions of years- wouldn't a creature that starts to BELIEVE they have a sense of self and a higher intelligence and superiority do better?
I feel like our egos and consciousness' could well be nothing more than a further development of our primal brains trying to keep us alive. Not only are we now naturally inclined to avoid dangerous situations that threaten our fragile bodies (which have become fewer in modern times- we've become VERY good at surviving). Now, we also have an inner monologue telling us how 'special', unique and talented we are and we must keep living in order to not deprive the world of our wonderful selves. Even better- we are the 'chosen ones' of an omnipotent being and each of us has a VERY special role to play.
What REALLY interests me is US- what the hell is going on inside OUR brains then? Many of us think quite the opposite. We hate ourselves, we don't want to be a part of society, some of us are antinatalists and we want to destroy ourselves. I'm kind of guessing it's either a kind of sickness/ dysfunctionality if you believe in mental illness or- it's a response to our environment. Afterall, some animals won't breed in captivity and they certainly show signs of depression.
Anyway, that's my very long winded take on it... Thanks for reading if you got this far.