I don't think we can consider lightning to be Bitcoin until the channels are closed and confirmed on-chain.
Discussion
The opening of the channel is confirmed on-chain.
Yes but the transaction you make after are not. Im not sure those transactions can be called final settlement.
A lightning channel is like a Sword of Damocles, always threatening to become real Bitcoin.
Lightning is a more capable version of swift. A lightning node is a bank running on swift.
It doesn't matter if it's only "currency" and not base layer. Lightning offers better transparency than central banking. There is NO system that can work on one layer globally with one unit that satisfies all monetary needs. Layers that operate in a trust minimized way and keeping the same units is far better than multiple units.