What did the late inventor of the Kalashnikov ask religious leaders?
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In his letter to the Russian Patriarch, Mikhail Kalashnikov wrote that "one question was causing pain to his soul": if the rifle he had created had claimed lives, then did that mean that he, "a Christian and an Orthodox believer, was to blame for their deaths?"
"The longer I live," he continued, "the more this question drills itself into my brain and the more I wonder why the Lord allowed man to have the devilish desires of envy, greed and aggression".
The letter has been published by the newspaper Izvestia. It quotes a spokesman for the Patriarch as saying that when weapons serve to defend the fatherland, the Russian Orthodox Church supports those who created them, as well as the soldiers who use them.
It's thought that more than 100 million Kalashnikov rifles have been sold worldwide. Mikhail Kalashnikov had been awarded the title Hero of Russia - he died last month aged 94 - and was buried withfull state honours.
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religious leader in one of the orthodox Christian churches
person who believes in a god or particular religion
evil thoughts
wishing you had something that someone else has, or wishing you could do something that someone else does
strong wish to have more of something you have
a feeling of anger that makes you want to threaten or hurt someone
the country where you were born or that you feel you belong to
an important ceremony involving political leaders to mark the death of someone important
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