Helldritch said that meddling gods were the "basic premise of D&D" in response to
me saying that not all settings have meddling or existing gods (). I responded to him that that that's not the basic premise (or even
a premise) of D&D.
You can have all the meddling gods you want (Forgotten Realms does so in double time), but.... Gods in D&D run a spectrum from Forgotten Realms (gods are ubiquitous and meddling with everything) to Dragonlance and Greyhawk (only certain gods get to meddle) to Eberron (the gods may be real... or not, you'll never know) to Mystara (no gods, but instead immortals—but clerics don't need to worship them anyway)
to Dark Sun (no gods). D&D has even supported clerics without gods (B/X, BECMI, and 2e
The Complete Priest's Handbook, 3.x, onwards). I think it's safe to say that gods—existing or not and meddling or not—is a setting-level dial, do a game-level one.