IT is not very often that all party leaders agree on an issue in the Scottish Parliament.

And even when they do, political necessity dictates they must find cause for argument.

This week the consensus was overwhelming and there was no party political point scoring.

MSP sent a motion of condolence to the people of Paris as Holyrood united in grief and solidarity with France following the terrorist murders.

It was a given that the motion of condolence would be supported by all party leaders but each in turn took the opportunity to widen the debate and bring it home to how it can have an effect in Scotland.

It was a unity that was welcome and should be taken by wider society as an example of how we react in the coming months and years.

The temptation that some have succumbed to is to confuse terrorism with Islam and the murderers with Muslims.

Nothing could be further from the truth, those who killed so many people in Paris didn’t ask what religion their victims were before they fired bullets into them.

They are killing fellow Muslims in Syria, in Iraq and in Lebanon which is why so many are fleeing for their lives to Europe.

Muslim men are thrown to their deaths because of their sexuality.

Whatever form of Islam they purport to adhere to it is not that practised by the millions of Muslims around the world and here in Scotland.

It is instead a barbaric ideology that seeks to control territory and people by the most brutal means and enslave or kill anyone who doesn’t agree.

Islamic State are committing atrocities every day in the Middle East and they are every bit as horrific and shocking as those in Paris.

Nicola Sturgeon, Kezia Dugdale and Patrick Harvie also took the opportunity to say the refugees who were already on their way to Scotland from camps in and around Syria were welcome here and the attack in Paris should not dilute that welcome.

While we here in Scotland, as a result of the Paris murders, are worried it could happen again and could happen here, it would be wrong to blame those coming here seeking refuge.

While it is possible that among the mass of people heading to terrorists could be lurking, it has to be remembered that many terror attacks in the west are committed by people born and raised in the country they attack.

We have to demand our governments and security services carry out the necessary checks and trust them to do it right.

What we can’t do is blame those seeking safety. When it comes to hating IS, we have more in common with them than we have differences.