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I don't think it's a consensus or faith, in that the people creating it don't have to believe it. We know for a fact that the accomplices in Our Confession don't believe it because they have to be coerced into participating in it. Hell, Beatrice doesn't seem to believe it. The importance of the golden truth is more who it's being presented to than who is creating it. I presume this is part of the reason it's described as sometimes stronger, sometimes weaker.
To a person who is inclined to prefer to believe the golden truth or who doesn't know better, it is superior. To a person who won't accept it or who has definitive evidence or knowledge to the contrary, it is inferior. Likewise in a situation where everyone believes it, having all the truth in the world to counter it won't have any effect. In encompasses lying, faith, and consensus, but isn't any one of those things unto itself.
And I think it's clearly implied by the Chick/Elder Beatrice dialogue that they both know that Erika's explanation of the trick is correct, but because they are the only two people who saw it happen, they are free to agree that it was magic and nobody can say otherwise (they can explain a trick that works very much like it, but they can't prove that trick was actually employed because they didn't see it done).
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