We ourselves define what is to be "life" and "death". They do not exist of their own account, so we must devise them for communicating and living. Such concepts should be used as tools to make life easy. It is madness to let them dictate to us, and to let them confound our spirits with unending confusion. We ourselves must choose definitions of life in line with the requirements of the survival of our species, and the advancement of wisdom. We could choose "life" to mean any number of things. In an underpopulated world life could begin at conception, making abortion illegal, while in an overpopulated world life might begin at birth.
The essential thing is that there are no ultimate values given to us. We alone are the creators of values. Do not shirk your responsibility! Learn to be a creator! To fail here is to personally condemn humankind to death.
Can religion help us live up to such a responsibility, and to live more harmoniously with reality? Hardly! The religions of today are symptomatic of the anti-thought pervasive through all society. They are the perfect crystallization of all I deplore. They express a pitiful fear of personal responsibility, a fear of freedom, and are kept alive through a psychology of self-grasping and the desire for permanence and predictability. Religion is the most active of movements to fight against the terrifying chaos of Nature. Its method is to package everything into neat little bundles, suitable for displaying on a mantlepiece. Religion is a sorry statement that we humans prefer to find happiness in belief rather than through reason.
So I implore you to use your brains, and have faith in your own ability to reason. Yes, I hear your doubts all too clearly: you regard reason a dubious master. But hear me out! If you use reason without fear or concession, how can it possibly lead you astray? So I say, respect your mind, love reason, be an example!