Your task is to extract the thesis of an opinionated news article by selecting some of its text segments. The thesis is a summarization of what the author wants to persuade the reader of. Your answer should consist of segments of the given text. Note that you are not allowed to combine different sentences.

[EX Q]: Do we really need to cancel Christmas? It's wonderful (and a good thing) to see the new emphasis on"giving over receiving" at Christmas time . It's become a trend this year with so many families because as parents we want to teach kids about generosity . Moms and dads everywhere are using Christmas as an opportunity to get their kids thinking about serving others and giving to the less fortunate , rather than encouraging them to create monstrous Christmas lists describing all the things they want this season . Some parents are even "cancelling" Christmas for their kids, not giving any family members any gifts . But do we really need to cancel Christmas in order to foster a spirit of generosity in our kids? Wednesday I joined Lisa Henderson on "Fox & Friends" to debate this very question . Lisa has "cancelled Christmas" in her Utah home because , she says, her kids have become too entitled,"acting so ungrateful" and "extremely disrespectful." So there will be no presents for Christmas , but , as she writes on her blog Overthebigmooon.com,"There is a good possibility that Santa will be writing them a letter of how proud of them he is and perhaps put a few pieces of hard candy and an orange in their stockings." While I have great respect for what Lisa wants to accomplish , I disagree with her approach . Christmas should begin, not end, at home . We are already under immense pressure to purge Christmas from our culture . First nativity scenes in public places were under attack, now it's Christmas trees . Even saying"Merry Christmas" has taken a back seat to "Happy Holidays." Cancelling Christmas and using letters from Santa to motivate our kids to be generous is not the answer . The answer is in putting the emphasis on the miracle not the material . And here's the good news . Even our gift giving can point to the miracle . So, yes, we give a few gifts to our kids . But we also give many gifts to the less fortunate . For example ,  we've taught our own kids that the gifts we give them at Christmas aren't based on whether they've been bad or good all year . The gifts we give them are free, unearned, underserved gifts , just like the gift of Jesus is a free, unearned, and underserved gift . This is a very tangible, concrete concept for kids to grasp . And when we serve and give to others, we teach our kids what Jesus said in Matthew 25:40 : "Whatever you do for the least of your brothers and sisters, you do for me." So we give gifts to Jesus on his "birthday" by serving and loving and giving to others! This is how parents can infuse real meaning into Christmas -- not by refusing to celebrate it all together . Cancelling Christmas is simply not the key to fostering generosity in our kids . The key to fostering generosity in our kids is by making giving something we do all year round. By making it a lifestyle . And a lifestyle of giving springs from a deep well of gratitude for how Jesus first gave his life for us . We have to be so careful not to teach our kids that Christmas is about doing more, trying harder, and being better to be worthy of gifts . Christmas is about anticipating and celebrating the greatest gift that has already been given-- the unconditional love of God in the birth of Jesus Christ . Our focus shouldn't be on whether or not we have a tree overflowing with gifts, but on whether we have a home overflowing with love . His love . And if that's our starting place , we have a pretty good shot at getting Christmas, and all the 364 other days of the year, right .
[EX A]: It's wonderful (and a good thing) to see the new emphasis on"giving over receiving" at Christmas time

[EX Q]: Paris lessons: US must revoke citizenship of Americans who join ISIS, Al Qaeda. Last week, France faced the threat that is arguably the toughest to defeat-- a threat from within, from its own terrorists . By now, the stories are familiar . France has a problem with homegrown radicals . At least 900 French citizens are among the 2,000 to 3,000 westerners who've left home for jihadist training or to fight for ISIS in Syria and Iraq . In many ways, the western jihadist represents the worst threat . Able to speak the language fluently, completely familiar with their home countries, and possessing a key weapon -- an American, British, French, or German passport -- they can easily cross international boundaries . The training makes them deadly -- the Paris attacks were notable for their deadly precision and meticulous planning . Their citizenship makes them mobile . That's why any American strategy to defeat jihad has to include measures to not just deny passports to American terrorists, but also strip them of citizenship . This is basic common sense . Most Americans would be surprised to know that joining Al Qaeda or ISIS - the Islamic State - isn't grounds for losing citizenship . The law currently provides that Americans can lose citizenship when they enter or serve in the armed forces of an enemy foreign state . But ISIS and Al Qaeda are not "foreign states," so the law doesn't apply . It's time to close this loophole . In Congress, legislation was introduced last session to address those concerns . It was not approved . Now, in the new Congress - with Republicans in control of both the House and Senate - there's a renewed push to safeguard the homeland . Last week, Representative Ted Poe introduced a measure that revokes passports from Americans who join terrorist organizations . And ,  in the days ahead, Senator Ted Cruz and Representative Steve King are expected to introduce legislation that would strip citizenship from terrorist traitors . This is not an imaginary threat . Not only have Americans joined ISIS , some have even lost their lives fighting for jihadists . In fact ,  as many as 40 men from Minneapolis alone have joined Islamic groups abroad . And just last week in Chicago, A U.S  citizen was indicted by a federal grand jury - charged with attempting to travel overseas to fight alongside the ISIS operating in Iraq and Syria . These men aren't just threats to the United States ; they're also threats to our closest allies . For our allies, the American passport is a ticket of entry, no visa required . And ,  similarly, for British, French, and other allies, their passport is a ticket of entry into the United States . The door is wide open for terrorists to take advantage of centuries of friendship and trust . It is time we slam that door shut . Of course stripping citizenship and revoking passports represent just two small steps - but critical ones - towards a sane national security strategy . However ,  it's difficult to take even these small steps with the Obama administration steadfastly refuses to name our enemies (Mr  President, our enemies are Islamic radicals, not generic "extremists"), accurately describe their ideology(no, they are not "nihilists"), or even to acknowledge their obvious, widespread appeal in the Muslim world . It was sad and embarrassing for Americans to watch as even the leader of the Palestinian Authority marched in Paris against Islamic extremism , yet our president or vice president were nowhere to be found . Even liberal journalists called this absence "pathetic." Marches don't defeat terrorists , but when dozens of world leaders stand together , it makes a statement of determination that is critical for our citizens to see . When our President makes a stand, it signals our nation's resolve , and his absence signaled our government's weakness . In the days and weeks ahead, Congress can send a very different message by passing much needed legislation, putting it on the President's desk, and daring him to veto legislation that would prevent exactly the kind of attack France faced last week . After almost six full years in office, we fully understand the President's approach to combatting terrorism . A recipe that mixes drone strikes with appeasement-- that pulls troops from combat and sends captive terrorists back to the Middle-- is now a proven failure . In my bestselling book, "Rise of ISIS: A Threat We Can't Ignore," I demonstrated the consequences of that failure . Jihad rages across the Middle East, Boko Harem rampages through Nigeria , and Afghanistan teeters on the brink of disaster . In the west, recent terror attacks in Canada, Australia, and Paris show jihadists ability to inspire even western Muslims with a message of pure hate and evil . Will the Obama administration change course? Will it finally acknowledge the true dimensions of the threat? It can start with a dose of common sense . It can start by protecting America from terrorist traitors .
[EX A]: Last week, France faced the threat that is arguably the toughest to defeat-- a threat from within, from its own terrorists At least 900 French citizens are among the 2,000 to 3,000 westerners who've left home for jihadist training or to fight for ISIS in Syria and Iraq

[EX Q]: India's mass conversion problem. "Homecoming" in the Christmas season is supposed to be a joyous occasion, accompanied by camaraderie and cheer . Not so for the small community of Christians in Agra, a town in the northern Indian province of Uttar Pradesh . On Christmas Eve, the flock of believers were cowering in fear , because a couple of churches were burnt and there was the looming threat of more skirmishes with the belligerent among their Hindu brethren spiralling into serious communal clashes . More portentous was the grand ghar wapsi (homecoming, or mass-reconversion) programme announced by the Dharam Jagran Samiti (loosely translated into Hindi-Religious Awakening Front) in the neighbouring town of Aligarh , where Christmas was to be "celebrated" by bringing 4,000 Christians and 1,000 Muslims back into the folds of Hinduism . This Samiti, a not-so-small wing of the Vishwa Hindu Parishad, a militant Hindu organisation, contended that far from propagating religious intolerance, it was only righting historical wrongs and injustice perpetrated by Christian missionaries and Muslim clerics who, in order to bolster the numbers of their respective faiths, had lured and coerced Hindus to stray from their original religion . Attack on secularism . When these turn of events created a furore in parliament , the Narendra Modi- led central government instructed the local administration to thwart the Samiti's grandiose plans, and Christmas day went peacefully . But ,  the solution - a national legislation to ban and criminalise conversions - assertively advocated by the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), which commands an absolute majority in parliament, and despite repeated disavowals, remains rooted in essentially a chauvinistic, right-wing Hindu ideology, is far more disconcerting, and if implemented , would deal a grievous blow to the constitutional ideal of secularism . It would be downright specious, even dishonest, to claim that missionaries and proselytisers' activities in India had nothing but a salubrious effect . Historical records bear ample testimony to the rigorous implementation of St Caprion's axiom - "extra ecclessium nulla salus" (outside the Church, no salvation), even by the proverbial fire and sword, especially by explorer-cum- conquistadors like Vasco da Gama, the tales of whose brutalities in enforcing a harvest of faith in the erstwhile Portuguese-controlled state of Goa are legion . Active proselytisation was an integral part of the colonial project ; indeed , as historian Ranajit Guha states,"the Bible and the toothbrush were one of the main instruments of the British colonialists" . This reveals that the missionaries did bring "material" gifts to the native population - especially western medicine and hygiene . But these benefits aside, there was another more substantive reason why many Indians, especially the Dalits (Untouchables) and tribals embraced Christianity, and even Islam . Both these religions liberate them, or at least hold out the promise of unshackling them from the pernicious burden of the caste-system which is so deeply entrenched in Hinduism . Though ostensibly secular in objective, the anti-conversion laws in force in various states of India - Odisha, Madhya Pradesh, Gujarat, Himachal Pradesh, Chhattisgarh (all areas with a significantly high population of tribals, Dalits, the depressed castes, and reeling from poverty, illiteracy and abysmal healthcare) in effect gives the government a vast swathe of control over people's choices in matters of faith and religion . Going way beyond , they endow the government with surveillance powers over a constituency of people . Starting from the premise that the freedom of religion and religious chose of "those who are converted"(note; the laws never say "those who convert") need to be protected from incursions of proselytisers - the various anti-conversion legislations, ironically termed as "freedom of religion" laws - make it mandatory for the convertees to inform the head of the district administration . They will then give the go-ahead only once he is satisfied that one is not swapping religions for monetary benefits or other inducements, or by being taken in by fraud, or being swayed by either promises of salvation or threats of incurring divine displeasure, as the case may be . The laws of Gujarat, Madhya Pradesh and Himachal Pradesh make it incumbent upon neighbours or villagers to inform the administration and the police of any activities of pastors, nuns and clergymen which could give rise to a suspicion of proselytising motives . Without defining what all would, and could, possibly count as "inducement" or "fraud", these laws impose stringent criminal sanctions on violators . Anyone found guilty is visited with imprisonment extending to three years, and with a financial penalty of 50,000 rupees (approximately $800) . Tellingly, the punishment is doubled if those who convert are women, or members of the lower castes and tribal communities . These laws are invoked and enforced only when a group of people, not individuals, seek to move out of Hinduism . One might well question - in face of such provisions, do the laws even need to use the modifiers "forcible" or "fraudulent"? Also ,  not a single legislation even addresses, let alone punish, "reconversion" which the many Hindu zealots are painstakingly claiming as totally voluntary and a righteous reply to the violation of rights by colonisers and their ilk . Indians look up to the judiciary to uphold the secular values of the republic , and the Supreme Court has, time and again, thwarted onslaughts on people's core fundamental right of religious freedom . But its record in adjudicating the evidently unsecular anti-conversion statutes is dubious . The last time it did was in 1977, in the Reverend Stanislaus case , wherein the Odisha and Madhya Pradesh statutes were upheld . Basing its ruling on a 1956 report entitled "Report of the Christian Missionaries Activity Enquiry Commission", which deemed proselytisation as a threat to India's territorial integrity and internal security, the court ended up conflating every act of propagation of one's faith - Christianity, in this case (enshrined as a fundamental right in the constitution) as an attack on Hinduism and its followers, tantamount to blasphemy , which, incidentally, is also a criminal offence in India . A national anti-conversion law, if enacted , would definitely be challenged in the Supreme Court . In that case, the judges could remedy the errors of 1977 by seeking inspiration from the European Court of Human Right's 1993 ruling in the Kokkinakis case , which struck the right balance between keeping out improper proselytism and Christians' right to practise, profess, and propagate their faith .
[EX A]:
Indians look up to the judiciary to uphold the secular values of the republic