Atheism is a religious view in the same way watching from the stands is a position on the baseball field. I would agree that it is a philosophical position in response to one single question, a question which does determine the beginnings of one's religious allegiance. It does not, however, possess on its own a complete worldview. It is not an answer to the whole of human experience. It answers only one question in the negative: Does one believe in a god or gods? That's the only question it touches on, so it's not a religion.R.J. Furuli wrote:atheism is also a religious view
Religions are comprehensive systems that include an answer to the question of the existence of a deity in addition to a set of moral values, a general list of "dos and don'ts" and social expectations, (generally) holiday obligations, etc.
I know that B-Hebrew isn't the place for the discussion of our religious views, and I hardly think it matters. Personally, whether I believe in God or not, I would still tend to go with the Jewish interpretation(s) of Daniel's writings.
We can talk about the meaning of Daniel's words all day long, but once we start laying them down on timetables and trying to piece them into world history to discover the identity of מָשִׁיחַ נָגִיד or מָשִׁיחַ or נָגִיד (for Jewish interpretations identify a different person for each of these monikers), we go beyond where we should be going here on B-Hebrew. Again, this is my understanding of how the group wants to operate.
When we get into these types of issues, we cross over into the overlap that is generally occupied by attempts at proselytizing and missionizing. These are things that we want to avoid. I don't see how we can avoid it when discussing issues that have divided religious traditions so fiercely for generations. We're not going to bring our opponents to agreements, since how we understand these verses really comes down not to what the text says but to how our respective religious traditions have taught us to understand them.
It's like arguing about the prophecies of Nostradamus. We should focus on Hebrew and not on prophecy fulfillment. That's outside the bounds of the forum's purpose.
Regards,
Jason