Could you elaborate on the misuse of the term "Deist" by the more liberal
side. I didn't really follow your description. You would be called a
"deist" because you hold to beliefs that God does really act in the world
now - as in sustaining the universe and drawing unbelievers to Himself.
Sounds like they (liberals) have more misused the terms than the others
(like Johnson, I believe) who demand that "God leave his fingerprints all
over the place."
As an aside: what is in and out of the Jefferson Bible (if one should call
that tiny volume by that holy name) is quite revealing of his beliefs. I
referred to it once in a Sunday School class when working through church
history. I held my copy up, and read the last paragraph ending with
Christ's death (that was the end of the book) and closed the book rather
mournfully, allowing the silence to sink in.
Al McCarrick