President Donald Trump and former President Joe Biden have two very different ways of looking at the world. In some ways, their respective words and actions have reflected the fundamental difference between conservatism and liberalism.
Of course, only one of those two perspectives accounts for the fullness of Christianity.
On Sunday, the White House issued its “Presidential Message on Holy Week, 2025,” wherein Trump twice referred to Jesus’ suffering and death as having redeemed us from “sin,” a word that Biden, in his 2022-24 written statements and in his ghastly 2021 Easter message delivered via teleconference, never once used.
“This Holy Week, Melania and I join in prayer with Christians celebrating the crucifixion and resurrection of our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ — the living Son of God who conquered death, freed us from sin, and unlocked the gates of Heaven for all of humanity,” Trump’s message began.
Then, one paragraph later, the president and first lady reiterated that message.
“Through His suffering, we have redemption. Through His death, we are forgiven of our sins,” the statement read.
In other words, Trump did more than mention the word “sin.” He emphasized it by using it twice early in the message.
By contrast, Biden’s 2022, 2023, and 2024 messages failed to mention by name the “sin” from which Jesus redeemed us.
The former president did fill his messages with references to “hope,” “renewal,” “sacrifice,” and “love,” for instance. But apparently he could not bring himself to use that scary three-letter word.
Do you prefer Trump’s talk of atonement to Biden’s vague talk of hope?
Note, too, that Biden’s 2022-24 messages grew progressively shorter in length.
For sheer, demonic horror, however, nothing could compare to the former president’s 2021 message via teleconference.
In fact, reading that message four years later has the effect of instantly transporting one back to a time in recent history when the world had surrendered itself to Satan’s madness.
“Jill and I, we’re looking forward to our Easter celebration, where we get to — get to get together with our family,” Biden said four paragraphs into the message. “And because we’ve had the great honor of being vaccinated, we may be able to get together with some of them this Easter.”
It went on like that for another 30 paragraphs.
“These are shots of hope. These are shots of hope,” the former president said, quoting an Arizona nurse who allegedly spoke in glowing terms of the COVID vaccine.
In short, the entire speech functioned as pro-vaccine propaganda masquerading as an Easter message.
Thus, by profaning Easter with a Pfizer commercial, Biden demonstrated who and what he truly worships.
Of course, not all liberals have bad intentions. Most, in fact, seem to regard themselves as good people. And they rather think the same of human beings in general — unless those human beings happened to vote for Trump. Otherwise, liberals tend to regard the human character as noble and even perfectible.
Christianity, however, as conservatives have always understood it, recognizes humans as failed, broken, and redeemed only through Jesus.
The liberal view, therefore, reduces our Lord and Savior to a kind of moral philosopher. But we have seen lots of moral philosophers throughout the centuries, including many who emphasized some of the same admirable things Jesus did. We certainly did not need one of them to suffer and die on a cross to bring home a point.
Nonetheless, for reasons only they can explain, liberals look into the New Testament and see a God who came to Earth to talk about love and hope but not, apparently, to liberate us from the consequences of our rebellion against Him.
Conservatives, of course, also celebrate Jesus’ message of love and hope. But they do this always within the context of our unworthiness and need for redemption from sin.
Furthermore, this difference in perspective goes a long way toward explaining nearly everything in public life.
For instance, it illustrates precisely why so many liberals prefer authoritarian remedies (vaccine mandates come to mind). After all, because they think themselves good and because they regard others as generally perfectible, the thought of imposing their will on you for your own good does not even unsettle their consciences.
Conservatives, on the other hand, acknowledge our sinfulness. They do not think of themselves as good, and they distrust anyone who does. Hence, conservatives wish neither to govern their neighbors nor to subject themselves to the government of others. That explains, for instance, their preference for a constitutional republic and a government with very few and very well defined powers.
In sum, one marvels at how instructive the presence or absence of one powerful three-letter word can be.
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