Thanks everyone.
As for being "negative," my view of deism, which I thought I conveyed, is generally a positive one. For its time, it was the "correct" position. And, even today, it is not a bad half way stance, for the reasons stated.
Anyway, regardless of my "subjective" view of deism, I think the distinction between a theistic deity (who is supposedly a "person" in existence today, who is open to prayer, perhaps intercedes in human affairs, and, in any event, judges human souls and presides over heaven and hell) and a deistic "creator" (who made the universe, however many eons ago, but is no longer around, for whatever reason, today) is pretty clear, in terms of the OP's question about caring or not caring. A theistic deity, if it indeed exists, would be something that one might very well need to care about, whereas, a deistic creator, not so much.
As for being "negative," my view of deism, which I thought I conveyed, is generally a positive one. For its time, it was the "correct" position. And, even today, it is not a bad half way stance, for the reasons stated.
Anyway, regardless of my "subjective" view of deism, I think the distinction between a theistic deity (who is supposedly a "person" in existence today, who is open to prayer, perhaps intercedes in human affairs, and, in any event, judges human souls and presides over heaven and hell) and a deistic "creator" (who made the universe, however many eons ago, but is no longer around, for whatever reason, today) is pretty clear, in terms of the OP's question about caring or not caring. A theistic deity, if it indeed exists, would be something that one might very well need to care about, whereas, a deistic creator, not so much.
