Over the course of "The Stranger," there's one thing that Mersault comes to realize (which also reflects an opinion that Camus holds): human life is essentially meaningless. Mersault did grapple with some of these ideas throughout the book, and we can see this in some of the comments that he makes. Think back to when his love interest, Marie, had asked him if they could get married, and if Mersault thought that he loved her. The responses are ambivalent, and he notes that it doesn't really matter either way whether or not they get married, suggesting that there's not really a point to either of things--though he'll get married if that's what she wants.
I wouldn't say that we can extrapolate from this example that Mersault is aligned with the belief that nothing matters at all (including human life), but we do see that these sorts of ideas are manifested in smaller ways. This is only towards the beginning of the novel, and the end is what leads. Mersault to come to the conclusion that human life is meaningless all around. I think the most important scene to illustrate this is the conflict between Mersault and the chaplain. The conversation, steeped with pity for Mersault on the part of the chaplain, starts out only mildly uncomfortable for Mersault. The chaplain insists that Mersault come to god, but Mersault notes that he "has very little time left, and [he] wasn't going to waste it on God." After the chaplain insists that Mersault should have called him "father," and that he was on his side, Mersault snaps, and makes his important realization.
Everyone is going to die at some point. "All alike would be condemned to die one day; his turn, too, would come like the others'. And what different could it make if, after being charged with murder, he were executed because he didn't weep at his mother's funeral, since it all came to the same thing in the end?" (Also, bear with me; I have the British translation of the text!) Mersault is making the point that whether or not he cried at his mother's funeral inevitably means nothing; her end was coming, and why would it make a difference if tears were shed? He could also be saying that the fact that he wasn't outwardly emotional wouldn't have saved him, as he was going to be condemned either way, which ties back into the fact that human life has a meaninglessness to it.
"It was as if that great rush of anger has washed me clean, emptied me of hope, and, gazing up at the dark sky spangled with its signs and stars, for the first time, the first, I laid my heart open to the benign indifference of the universe." Right before this quote, Mersault comes to an understanding about why his mother continued to live life despite the end being so near; the universe didn't care about anyone or their existence, so why should people care about what's going to happen after their death? This is why Mersault expresses that he wants to continue to live life.
The Stranger, through a story of a man caught up in murder, really grapples with some interesting points about philosophy and existentialism. This is probably why the chaplain feels so uncomfortable; what's the point of living by the ideals of religion if you're nothing more than a speck to the universe?
"The Stranger" is a book about apathy and absurdity. Meursalt, is an apathetic person, as shown by his lack of emotion, who learns to find meaning in life through the absurd. Meursalt completely rejects religion, especially Christianity, because he does not believe that there is any sense on dwelling on what comes after - because nothing comes after. Most of the reason he is condemned is because he doesn't care. He doesn't believe that it matters that his mother died or that he killed someone or that he himself is going to die. But when he is in the cell by himself he has time to think and consider his life, and his changes in perspective come through in his fight with the chaplain. He decides that while life is in fact meaningless, there is still joy that can come from it; there is a reason to stay alive, and it is to experience moments of absurdity, where nothing makes sense and it doesn't need to.
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