Playing cards

Opposition to the use of playing cards

Playing cards have developed an association with gambling or idle frivolity. The early Methodists did not participate in, and condemned, "worldly habits" including "playing cards, racing horses, gambling, attending the theater, dancing (both in frolics and balls), and cockfighting." The mother of Methodism Barbara Heck observed fellow Irish immigrants playing cards and then took them and "swept the cards into the fire". Methodist minister Harlie W. Smith described that following his experience of being born again, "three decks of cards and my dice went into the furnace." To the present-day, a number of Methodist denominations aligned with the holiness movement, such as the Allegheny Wesleyan Methodist Connection and Christ's Sanctified Holy Church, oppose the use of playing cards.