Here's the gist of the intelligent design "debate." Intelligent design arguments are pushed largely by a conservative thinktank whose main role is a political one (the misnamed "Discovery Institute" -- shouldn't it be, rather, "Revealed Institute"?). Evolutionary theory is established among scientific organizations, universities, and researchers -- not only biologists, but also pretty much every other science as well as much of contemporary philosophy. Although not bereft of political matters, science and philosophy don't need a political thinktank to promote evolution because the natural world is best explained by variations on Darwin's, Haeckel's, Lyell's, and Lamarck's work.
Science studies the natural world. Intelligent design posits a supernatural force behind nature. A scientist or philosopher may speculate about non-natural origins to life and the universe, but those questions are not scientific ones precisely because they are supernatural. The latter domain is a matter for church or mosque or temple or politicized thinktanks.
Our misfortune is that there are too many policymakers with next to zero understanding of science and philosophy, who are beholden to religious groups for votes and lucre, and who are therefore easily swayed in the direction of their own interests rather than those of the broader public.
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