instruction:
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.
question:
Did Coltrane say 'Allah Supreme'? "A Love Supreme" is widely recognised as John Coltrane's masterwork, and a milestone recording in the history of jazz . Many an aficionado came to jazz through that classic album- a 32-minute-long composition organised around a four-note bass routine . The manuscript for the album is one of the National Museum of American History's treasures ; the saxophone that Coltrane used to record the piece was recently gifted to the Smithsonian Museum ; and former US President Bill Clinton, a saxophonist and Coltrane fan, is said to have "A Love Supreme" set as the ringtone for when Hillary calls . This week marks the 50th anniversary of "A Love Supreme"  . Recorded on December 9, 1964, the composition is being celebrated worldwide in concerts, festivals, academic symposia and even at churches . The Saint John Coltrane African Orthodox Church - founded in 1969 by two clerics who saw Coltrane perform live in the San Francisco, and experienced a "sound baptism"- celebrated "A Love Supreme" mass on December 8, in San Francisco's iconic Grace Cathedral . The recording has long been understood to be a deeply spiritual, even devotional, piece . Its four phases - "Acknowledgement", "Resolution", "Pursuance" and "Psalms" - reflect what Coltrane described as a "spiritual awakening" in his overcoming of drug and alcohol problems . All praise belongs to God . Yet ,  what was the nature of that "spiritual awakening"? The conventional view is that by 1964, Coltrane had moved away from his Methodist upbringing, adopting a "pan-religious" outlook with a particular interest in Eastern mysticism . In spite of that , "A Love Supreme" is still described as laden with Biblical symbolism: the title "Psalm", and the rising cadences, reminiscent of black preachers' style, are offered as evidence that Coltrane was still rooted in Christianity . But ask one of the jazzmen or Muslim elders who knew Coltrane, and you get a different answer . The saxophonist Yusef Lateef, who died at the age of 93 earlier this year, worked closely with Coltrane between 1963 and 1966 . In his autobiography , "A Gentle Giant", Lateef says:"The prayer that John wrote in 'A Love Supreme' repeats the phrase 'All praise belongs to God no matter what' several times . This phrase has the semantics of the al-Fatiha, which is the first chapter or sura of the Holy Quran . The Arabic transliteration is 'al-Humdulilah ...' Since all faithful Muslims say the al-Fatiha five times a day or more, it is reasonable to assume that John heard this phrase from [his Muslim wife] Sister Naima many times." Lateef is referring to the poem Coltrane wrote and included in the liner notes of the album . Coltrane wrote:"No matter what... It is with God. He is gracious and merciful" and ends with "All praise to God..." What Lateef and others have noted is that "gracious and merciful" is a translation of "rahman raheem", the opening lines of the Fatiha . Moreover , say the elders, when Coltrane begins chanting the album's title for half a minute it sounds like a Sufi breathily repeating "Allah supreme" . The relationship between Islam and jazz is almost a century-old . It was in the 1920s that the Ahmadiyya movement, a heterodox Islamic movement that emerged in 19th century India, began sending missionaries to US cities, building a substantial following among African Americans in the decades to come . In a trend that still intrigues historians and music critics, after World War II, scores of jazz musicians embraced Ahmadi Islam . When Coltrane arrived in Philadelphia in 1943, the Muslim presence in the "city of brotherly love" would rattle the young man . As he told an interviewer in 1958:"This Muslim thing came up. I got introduced to that. And that kind of shook me." Ongoing debate in Philadelphia . The saxophonist was surrounded by Muslims : his drummer Rashied Ali was Muslim, as was his pianist McCoy Tyner (Suleiman Saud), and saxophonist Lateef . Coltrane then married Naima Grubbs, an observant Muslim . Even Coltrane's band members have pondered his relationship to Islam . If Lateef suspected that Coltrane's art was influenced by the Quran , the drummer Rashied Ali thought that the saxophonist was "a real country boy" and that "he was into being a Muslim and everything like that" . "Back then jazz and Islam were intertwined - the first time I heard the adhan on Temple University radio, I thought it was a Nina Simone song," says Imam Nadim Ali, a celebrated jazz deejay and community leader who spent his youth in Philadelphia . "Artists were deeply influenced by Islam - sometimes publicly in their art, sometimes privately." It's not inconceivable that "A Love Supreme" could have been inspired by the Quran . After all , as the elders will observe,"Celebration", that great funk hit by Kool & the Gang, was inspired by a Quranic sura . "The initial idea came from the Quran," says Ronald Bell (Khalis Bayyan), the group's saxophonist and musical arranger . "I was reading the passage, where God was creating Adam, and the angels were celebrating and singing praises . That inspired me to write the basic chords, the line, 'Everyone around the world, come on, celebration'." This song inspired by Islam - and released in 1980 - would become an international hit heard at ball games and political rallies in the US, and ironically was played by the Reagan administration on February 7, 1981, to welcome home the hostages held by students in the Islamic Republic of Iran . One also hears the argument that Coltrane wanted to title his composition "Allah Supreme"- instead of "A Love Supreme" - but was worried about a political backlash, given the ongoing conflict in the Middle East . The mass conversion of African Americans to Islam unsettled many European Americans and tensions rippled into the jazz world . Jazz critics would often dismiss the converts as "strange" and "confused" . Young converts . In his memoir, Dizzy Gillespie candidly describes the pressures that faced young converts in the jazz world . "The movement among jazz musicians towards Islam created quite a stir, especially with the surge of the Zionist movement," writes Dizzy Gillespie in"To Be or Not to Bop" . "A lot of friction arose between Jews and Muslims, which took the form of a semi-boycott in New York of jazz musicians with Muslim names... Near the end of the '40s, the newspapers really got worried about whether I'd convert to Islam." Gillespie was, as he would say,"intrigued" by "the beautiful sound of the word Quran and discussed Islam extensively with Lateef . But in 1948, in a shoot for a feature story with Life magazine, Gillespie was asked to pose shirtless, cross-legged, and bowing with his arms outstretched . The magazine published the piece and claimed (falsely) that the trumpeter was bowing in prayer towards Mecca . The media ruckus that ensued about the King of Bebop's abandonment of Christianity incensed Gillespie. He would eventually become a Bahai." Political and racial pressures still bear heavily on black and Muslim artists (especially hip hop artists) today . And we may never know what Coltrane had in mind when he composed his masterpiece . But as the US celebrates and and tries to mainstream figures from the turbulent 1960s, voices from the communities that produced the likes of Coltrane, Malcolm X and Muhammad Ali, should be heard - especially as the domestic and foreign policies that pushed African Americans towards Islam a century ago are still with us . Hisham Aidi teaches at Columbia University . He is the author of the critically acclaimed Rebel Music: Race, Empire and the New Muslim Youth Culture, a study of black internationalism and global youth culture .
answer:
former US President Bill Clinton, a saxophonist and Coltrane fan, is said to have "A Love Supreme" set as the ringtone for when Hillary calls What Lateef and others have noted is that "gracious and merciful" is a translation of "rahman raheem", the opening lines of the Fatiha


question:
Billy Crystal is wrong. There is nowhere near enough gayness on screen. Comedian, actor and - apparently - bewildered Victorian time-traveller Billy Crystal disappointed millions of fans and general conscience-havers this week when, in an interview with the Television Critics Association, he said that he thinks gay characters on TV are "pushing it a little too far" . "I hope people don't abuse it and shove it in our face," Crystal continued, referring to gay sex scenes, "to the point where it feels like an everyday kind of thing." He later attempted a half-hearted backpedal, telling the Hollywood Reporter that, don't worry, he totally thinks straight people are gross, too : "What I meant was that whenever sex or graphic nudity of any kind (gay or straight) is gratuitous to the plot or story, it becomes a little too much for my taste." Sporting try, Billy , but we can see your tell : several of your chosen turns of phrase have been used to dehumanise and deny representation to gay people for decades - "shove it in our face", in particular, is tantamount to a coded gay slur . For that matter, it is not even possible to "shove" heterosexual sexuality in anyone's face , because there is no human on earth whose face isn't already completely submerged in and saturated by it . Gratuitous straight sex is a defining plot device in pretty much all media: primetime soaps, daytime talk shows, beer commercials, Billy Crystal movies . We know what you meant . Of course ,  it's perfectly fine to be uncomfortable with overt displays of sexuality, regardless of orientation - everyone has the right to set and defend their own sexual boundaries . I, for instance, find the idea of a woman loudly faking an orgasm in a crowded delicatessen so unbearably awkward that it makes me want to crawl out of my skin and flush the rest of me down the toilet . And that's why I FAST-FORWARD THROUGH THAT PART OR WATCH SOMETHING ELSE . It's almost as though you can choose what media you want to consume without policing anyone's sexual expression and furthering the oppression of an already marginalised and underrepresented group . But Crystal's dull, antique disdain for gay sex actually manages to crystallise a very important, progressive point : not only is there not "too much" gayness in media , gayness doesn't go anywhere near far enough . Back up the gay truck and just flood the place . It's about time . If you want evidence that our media is broken (or, more unsettlingly, working just as it's intended) , look no further than the staggering whiteness, straightness, and maleness of the 2015 Oscar nominations . As Bidisha summed up in this paper last week: "Every nominated best director, screenwriter, screenplay adapter and original score composer is a white man . All the nominated best actors and best supporting actors are white men . All but one of the best picture nominations are about how hard it is being an entitled, genius white man . All the nominated best foreign language film directors are men . All but one of the documentary directors - Laura Poitras for Citizenfour - is a man . In the best picture category, seven films are directed by white men and the eighth, Selma, is directed by a black woman, Ava DuVernay, who was snubbed for best director." When it comes to diversity in media- after hundreds of years of straight white guys telling straight white guy stories, deciding which subject matters are serious(straight white guy stuff) and which are frivolous (everything else), and congratulating themselves on being the best at fulfilling their own rigged, narcissistic standards - I'm not interested in parity . I want overcompensation . I want new stories . And I don't just mean that from a social justice standpoint . I'm bored . A time is going to come- in my lifetime, I hope - when just being an angsty white man won't be enough any more . It won't carry a movie . It won't justify an Oscar . That's not to say that straight white guy stories can't be compelling, heartbreaking and important  - simply that we've heard them already . We've heard them at the expense of millions of other stories that never get funding, that are rewritten and whitewashed, that are needlessly recentered around a white person a la Orange is the New Black . When these conversations come up , some genius inevitably pipes up with what they think is a trump card - some version of:"Oh, so we should have a show where every character is a disabled black Muslim lesbian!?!?!?" As though nothing could be more absurd and unthinkable . As though there aren't innumerable TV shows and movies with all-white ensemble casts that go uncritiqued . And , to answer your question , UM, YES . That show sounds incredible and I would watch the crap out of it . It's only an absurd concept if you believe that disabled black Muslim lesbians are somehow less valid, less valuable, than straight white men . They're not . There is no such thing as a niche human . Representation is humanisation , and we have an inexpressible amount of ground to make up if we want to begin to establish gay people and trans people and disabled people and people of colour and fat people and sex workers as fully realised human beings - not tropes, morality tales, or comic relief - in the public consciousness . I'd say we could stand a few decades of overrepresentation, in fact . Come on, Hollywood . Shove it in my face .
answer:
Comedian, actor and - apparently - bewildered Victorian time-traveller Billy Crystal disappointed millions of fans and general conscience-havers this week when, in an interview with the Television Critics Association, he said that he thinks gay characters on TV are "pushing it a little too far"


question:
Paris: Why Obama's presence Sunday would have been height of hypocrisy. Commentators from both sides of the political aisle have discussed the "optics" of President Obama's absence from the massive, anti-terrorism march in Paris on January 11 . Sadly, they've all missed the point . It would have represented a glaring hypocrisy for Mr  Obama, or any highly- ranked official from his administration, to attend the rally . A sad fact about our pundit class, conservative or progressive, is that they too often miss the obvious . That condition infects both critics and supporters of the Obama administration . They simply cannot connect the dots with this leader . After all ,  he is an unusual president . So let me draw a line between the unconnected dots . Just two years ago, the administration blamed the killing of the American ambassador to Libya, and three security personnel, on a video that negatively depicted the prophet Muhammad . Remember that? You see , it was an unknown, bigoted Christian man from California who single- handedly caused the death of our ambassador . According to the administration, the film by Nakoula Basseley Nakoulahad sparked spontaneous riots to defend Muhammad's honor , and our ambassador got caught up in the mayhem . Mr  Obama called the filmmaker a "shadowy character," and in front of the United Nations and the world, blamed the attack on the "disgusting" movie . At that podium, he declared that "the future must not belong to those who slander the prophet of Islam." Congressional hearings later proved that the violence in Benghazi was due to a coordinated terrorist attack , and had nothing to do with a protest over the movie . But administration officials stuck to the lie . Just a few weeks after the attack, the filmmaker was arrested on parole charges by federal authorities , probably taking orders from Attorney General Holder . Now fast-forward to the rally in Paris-- the one that Holder would not deem worthy to attend, even though he was in Paris at the time . The one that President Obama, nor Vice President Biden, nor Secretary of State Kerry would attend either , even though other major world leaders rushed to Paris to demonstrate their solidarity . Let me draw the line between the dots a little darker :. Q : Who did the terrorists attack in Paris on January 7? A: A satirist magazine that had mocked Christians for years . Q: Why did the terrorists kill those specific journalists and cartoonists? A : For a mocking portrayal of Muhammad . Q : Isn't that the same issue that had enraged the White House after the Benghazi attack? A : You betcha . The "bad optics" that so many pundits are complaining about actually fit perfectly into the philosophical mindset of this White House . They do not want us to insult their Islamist friends . In the eyes of the Obama administration, the jihadists in Libya and France committed the same savagery for the same reason . Give the administration credit for consistency . They're not about to appear sympathetic to a French cartoonist when they had condemned the filmmaker from California . Having persecuted the latter , they weren't about to march to defend the former . What represents bad optics to most civilized people's worldview represents good optics to the Obama administration's worldview . It's all too clear that America and the world have no hope of stopping these never-ending barbaric acts until a Reagan-like figure steps up . A leader who will honestly and courageously define such terrorism as it really is : An Islamist's interpretation of the Koran . That's the definition recently used by President el-Sisi of Egypt, a man of far greater honesty and courage than America's current counterpart . Only with an American leader of Reagan-like strength will we be able to develop a plan and the determination to defeat the dark ideology of Islamism , just like Reagan managed to defeat the Soviet Union and its evil ideology . Dr  Michael Youssef is the founding pastor of the Church of the Apostles in Atlanta, Georgia and the author of over 30 books, including his most recent, "Jesus, Jihad & Peace: What Does Bible Prophecy Say About World Events Today?" (Feb  17, 2015, Worthy Publishers) . Find him online at www.michaelyoussef.com and follow him on Twitter: @MichaelAYoussef .
answer:

It would have represented a glaring hypocrisy for Mr  Obama, or any highly- ranked official from his administration, to attend the rally