Faith: The Last Domino to Fall

In the final pages of The Stranger, Meursault grabs a priest by the cassock and denounces religion in a rant even Mr. Heidkamp would have had difficulty in cutting short . The placement and the destruction of this specific construct is significant, not only within the book, but also in the progression of modern philosophy. Religion has historically been and continues to be one of the most fundamental structures known to mankind. It has also been the hardest to discredit, precisely because it acknowledges our common fear of the unknown and reassures us that someone else has it all under control. Scores of purportedly enlightened philosophers have come and gone, but up until the most recent decades, few have felt completely comfortable in dealing with religion, and have often manipulated their own theories in order to accommodate it. Voltaire rejoiced in the security of deism even as he empowered the individual, and Kant glorified the notion of a benevolent, clock-maker God who made sure everything proceeded smoothly. Nietzche mustered the strength to declare God dead, but desperately wished that he wasn't because humankind was not ready for that degree of chaos. Finally, we arrive at the Existentialist school of thought, which, despite its condemnation of any and all social constructs, still had difficulty in distancing itself from the warm confines of organized religion. As Will S pointed out in class, Kierkegaard, the founding father of Existentialism, managed to finagle an endorsement of faith into his philosophy, arguing that only the truest believers would be able to recognize the irrationality of a God, and believe in Him all the same. Then, Sartres and Camus entered the fray. Meursault systematically rebukes each construct he saw before him, from marriage to justice. But Camus saved the best for last. Turning to the priest assigned to save his soul, Meursault erupts: "He seemed so certain about everything, didn't he? And yet none of his certainties was worth one hair of a woman's head. He wasn't even sure he was alive, because he was living like a dead man" (120). Meursault, and by extension, Camus, emphatically separates himself from all who postulated before him by throwing religion out the window, and celebrating the liberated world before him, a tabula rasa, finally free from the peskiest of all falsehoods, God.