You said: The flaws of mankind are too obvious and too plentiful. These flaws alone should have squashed the ID theory.
Perhaps among the flaws of mankind is the inability to articulate the concept of ID. If the ID theory were that man created everything your statement would have more validity, IMO.
It seems to me that in every crevice of missing knowledge and understanding of science, there is room for a Creator. These crevices don't prove the existence of God, they only fail to exclude Him.
I don't even approach any expertise in science of any kind, but am I not correct that evolution deals with the development of life from one form into another, and not the origins of life itself? Has anyone created life out of nothing? Or even out of non-living matter? If not, I don't see how even scientists can exclude the possiblity that an unknown Being created life.
Scientists don't exclude that possibility.
Compare it to the birth of a baby. Once, people just thought the stork brought them but now we know about insemination, cell division, genetics and a lot of other details. Much better to know the details rather than just say God did it. That is what the creos/ID'ers are pushing. Just stop the progress and say God did it. Stupid.
That extremely bad theology. Also known as "God of the gaps." If God can only hide in the "crevices of missing knowledge", then the amount of space allocated to him is going to decline exponetially over time. Science has a tendency of filling those "crevices," you know. Right now, those crevices are very few in number. In a few years, they will be even fewer.
What happens if one day scientists are able to create a simple life form in the lab? It may happen. There is no a priori reason to think it won't happen. What would happen to your faith if it did? It would not shake mine.
I'm from the Bob Ross School of Creation, which is to say that I believe this is all a "happy accident."
But I can easily reconcile this with my faith in God. The trick is, sometimes a parable is just a parable.