THE recent attacks in France will have sickened anyone who believes in free speech and liberty, and my sympathies go to those whose loved ones were killed.

Our response to the attacks is vital, because that will show the fascists that they will never win by using violence to try to impose their will. The protests across France and beyond, including here in Wales, were therefore particularly encouraging. Millions of people stood side by side to defend free speech and denounce such brutality. The men who tried to silence Charlie Hebdo have only succeeded in increasing its circulation from 60,000 to nearer 6 million. Vive la France!

I’m not a great reader of French satire, and as a Christian am no fan of blasphemy, but these events show where civilised people draw a line: if we don’t like something, we just don’t buy it. We should be careful to remember that freedom of speech comes with the responsibility to consider the effect of our words on others. But we certainly won’t tolerate those who target journalists with violence just because they dislike the things they write or draw.

Unfortunately, there has been another side to the reaction, from those who blame Muslims or Islam as a whole for this outrage. They are wrong to do so. The overwhelming majority of Muslims denounce the actions of the terrorists. For example, one Imam in Paris said: “I am extremely angry. These are criminals, barbarians. They have sold their soul to hell... This is not Islam and I hope the French will come out united at the end of this.”

Blaming innocent Muslims just plays into the hands of the extremists who want to divide us along ethnic or religious lines. British Muslim Leaders have denounced the attacks, saying that the incidents in Paris should not mean we allow ‘hate to creep into our hearts’. That is sound advice for us all.

The attacks show the scale of the task that our security services have with their job of defending us. I rarely agree with David Cameron, but he had a point last week when he talked about the need to keep up with new technology in our fight against terrorism. I was the Chair of the Intelligence and Security Committee in Parliament for three years, and saw how difficult that task is at first hand. Any Government must respect civil liberties, but it is also their duty to keep the public safe. After all, only in a safe and secure society can we enjoy the freedoms the terrorists want to destroy.