Killing an Arab

I believe the phrase he uses is 'the benign indifference of the world'

He is an atheist, but that is only part of it. He is not simply non-religious, he is actively opposed to religion (and not for the usual reasons that most nonreligious people have for being opposed to religion - it's opposed to reason, it encourages bigotry, etc.). Anticlericalism is hardly unique to him, however; it has been ubiquitous in French culture since since pre-Revolutionary times.<br /> <br /> I got the impression that Mersault's perspective (he appears to be what today would be called an antisocial personality; not sure if the term was in use when the book was written) was that, since he was already sentenced to the guillotine, he had no incentive not to do whatever he liked, including attack the priest (since they could hardly increase his punishment, no matter what he did).<br /> <br /> Although it's been ages since I read that book (all these kids talking about reading it for school and so forth make me feel so old!), I seem to recall the priest was being rather obnoxious. As an atheist myself, I find it extremely rude and condescending when someone persists in trying to convert me to their religion after I have told them I'm not interested. (Actually, in my experience, people who go around trying to convert others to their religion generally tend to be rude and condescending from the start.) I distinctly recall feeling anger and disgust when I reached the point in the novel when Mersault is told that he can save himself by converting to Christianity. Even though I generally found him a difficult character to identify with, I nonetheless was able to agree with him on this particular point, although my reasons were very different from his. I also felt sympathy for his refusal to pretend to "get religion" even to save his life; Mersault may not have many admirable qualities, but his sense of intellectual honesty is one.<br /> <br /> Incidentally, I can see how it would be easy for someone who had never read L'Etranger to mistakenly think this song is about bigotry or the violence in the Middle East or suchlike. (Indeed, although it of course predates the troubles in the Middle East (I believe it was published around or during WWII, certainly before the formation of the modern state of Israel in 1948), L'Etranger takes place in a French colony in North Africa, and colonialism is arguably a sort of secondary theme. Certainly it contributes to the plot involving the native woman whom Raymond abuses, and her relatives' attempts to avenge her.) I recall first making the connexion while reading the book. The sudden understanding was amusingly similar to Mersault's moment of clarity near the end of the book. It made me appreciate the song (of which I had always been fond) all the more.