CHESS AND RELIGIOUS EXTREMISM

Most of us know that the Taliban has prohibited chess playing in Afghanistan but fewer know that this was also done in Christian lands:

At one time or another, chess was forbidden by Muslims, Roman Catholics, Anglicans, Jews, the Puritans, and the Taliban.

In 1128, St. Bernard of Clairvaux (1090-1153) forbate the Knights Templars from playing chess.

In 1195, rabbi Maimonides (1155-1204) included chess among the forbidden games.

In 1208, the Bishop of Paris decreed that chess be banned from the clergy.

In 1240, the Worcester Synod of England forbade chess to the clergy and the monastic orders.

In 1254, King Louis IX issued an religious edict forbidding chess as a useless and boring game.

In 1260, King Henry III instructed the clergy to leave chess alone.