Quick look shows I've mixed up facts, and honestly don't have the time to do a deeper search to find the attitude. It seems more of a social evil from a shallow search, but that's just a mention in the Wikipedia article [1]. A little more information here [2].It has been banned numerous times through history.

[1]https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/History_of_chess#Europe [2] http://www.strangehistory.net/2013/04/07/the-evils-of-chess/