Are Deists more like theists or Atheist?

[Mudhammam]

Reporting what they stated about religion, without mentioning the milieu in which they lived, is misleading.  If you wish to avoid such speculations, it is better to say, "he stated..." or "he wrote that..." before whatever one wants to say.  To say that Epicurus was a deist is to say something that we really do not know.  To say that he expressed deistic ideas is not.

I said, "Philosophers like Epicurus didn't believe the gods intervened in the world." That's not misleading at all. I think you read too much into it.