SCIENTIFIC MATERIALISM

I say the universe, life, humans had no Creator—their existence is due to forces acting on matter and random chance. The universe has no purpose, or notion of good and evil, other than the meaning and value we give it.  Life involves only matter, and physical / chemical processes (physicalism) —not vital spirit. Someday scientists will create it in the lab. Spirituality exists only in the mind, a product of processes in brains. I discount knowledge based on something other than observation and reason. (Note: some connect life with the process of knowing—interacting with the environment to get information /structurally coupling with it.)

VITALISM

I see life as holistically endowed with something special: spirit, soul, life force (Qi in China, Prana in India.) Most religions involve belief in spiritual beings: living things with souls, disembodied spirits, ghosts, angels, that natural objects are conscious (animism), etc. Traditionally the self-awareness called consciousness (home of conscience) is thought to reside in souls. (Note: While disdaining the above, some link life with a creative / organizing principle. They see it as emerging from the collective behavior of a complex system, and as something more than the sum of its parts.)