Are Deists more like theists or Atheist?

[Mudhammam]

Philosophers like Epicurus didn't believe the gods intervened in the world, and I wouldn't doubt if the idea of an intelligent first cause who arranged the initial conditions and then concluded its involvement goes back further (Anaxagoras, maybe?).

I see deism as closer to atheism than theism for the simple reason that theists make all sorts of assertions about what the first cause is like, "his" purpose and wishes for mankind, his frequent interventions in the world, and all sorts of other superstitions, whereas what divides atheists and deists seems to primarily be the issue of whether the unexplained cause or initial conditions is intimately related to our concepts of order, reason, intelligence, morality, etc. I don't see it as a position that confers any direct benefits on a person's life except perhaps to offer the illusion of a tidy system that "explains" the objective appearance of subjective phenomenon and one that suggests the possibility of an ultimate purpose that includes living organisms.

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Sweet. Looks like my memory didn't fail.
http://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_deists