Meursault the Godless protagonist in Albert Camus’ The Stranger is condemned by society for his religious beliefs. This character allows Camus to express his existential beliefs. Two of the most telling scenes or Mersault’s religious views occur when Mersault is with the magistrate and the chaplain. Mersault’s religious conviction serves to alienate him from society because he feeds off of the self-doubt people feel toward religion.
The Magistrate and his interaction with Mersault provide the first glimpse the reader gets into Mersault’s religious views. One of the motivations of the magistrate is to question Mersault’s motive for the killing of the Arab. He attempts to find reason for the killing where there is none. Also, the magistrate shows the reader something about the contempt Camus has for society and its imposed religious beliefs. The magistrate refuses to believe that any man could not believe in God at all. In this way the magistrate represents the religious beliefs that are forced on all people. The magistrate distraught upon hearing that Mersualt doesn’t believe in God yells in reply, “Do you want my life to be meaningless?” This reaction shows how Camus dislikes the general public for needing to believe in God. This line also hints that Camus believes that people need to believe that everyone else believes in God to ease their own self doubt.
Mersault embodies Camus’ existential views completely. The most important aspect of these beliefs to this story are his religious views. One of the most interesting and shocking beliefs of existentialism is that there is no God. To be more specific, man has created God out of a need to believe in a higher purpose. Mersault seems to embody this view in this novel.
The chaplain again attempt to make sense of Mersault. The chaplain upon hearing that Mersault doesn’t believe in God attempts to explain it by saying that Mersault must be extremely troubled by his upcoming execution and therefore not thinking clearly. In this manner the chaplain is very much like the magistrate in that he can’t bring himself to believe that Mersault doesn’t believe in God. This scene is different from Mersault’s interaction with the magistrate in that here we see doubt in the mind of a priest.
This work addressed religion and its effects on society as a major problem. It focused on societies insecurity in their faith and the fear it causes them. The reactions to Mersaults statements about God show just how insecure Camus believed the general public to be in their faith.

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