List of albums censored by Christian bookstores

This is a list of albums censored by Christian bookstores due to specific instances of censorship based on the content of the album. Christian bookstores censor material for various reasons, ranging from doctrine (Lifeway Christian Resources is associated with the Southern Baptist Convention) to a perceived need to protect their reputation or "atmosphere" by not carrying certain products. One critic has described a particular chain as being "extremely pro-censorship."

Some albums, especially those experiencing issues with cover art, are reissued with new covers for Christian book stores.

This list includes albums where censorship occurred while the album was in the Christian retail chain, either at the distributor or retail point. Is not meant to include:

• Albums that never made it into the Christian music market. Stryper's 1990 release Against the Law was not carried in Christian bookstores, as their label made the decision not to distribute to that market segment.
• Albums pulled solely because the artist was involved with a scandal or other incident, such as Sandi Patti, Michael English, Amy Grant, or Raze.
• Albums from an era in which artistic styles were less accepted in Christian music, unless a specific instance of censorship can be shown. Petra, for instance, had trouble getting Christian bookstores to take products until the 1980s, but this was due to limited distribution than the specific content of their albums.

Albums

Notes

• Their debut album was initially distributed to the Christian market, and its lead single received airplay on Christian radio. Its label pulled the album out of the Christian market, with the lead singer commenting "I guarantee that if the Christian bookstore owners listened to some of those songs, they wouldn't sell the CD."

• The cover artist for Payable On Death was Daniel Martin Diaz. Upon the ban he commented "It's quite ironic that throughout my art career, I have been censored by a reputable art publication and denied inclusion into art exhibitions because my work is too religious. Now my work is being censored by religious outlets. Some folks need to enlighten themselves with art history."

The controversy also caused some stores to pull the January / February 2004 issue of HM Magazine because P.O.D. was featured on its cover (issue #105). The issue featured additional artwork by Diaz.

• "Love Cocoon" was included on Slow Dark Train over the objection of the band. On the topic, frontman Bill Mallonee told CCM "I do stand behind the song intellectually and theologically... I would have loved it if Slow Dark Train was the first album in the Christian bookstore market to have a parental advisory sticker on it."

• The music video for "Flush" was designed around the personal experiences of its author. At the time the album was pulled, Brian Welch released a statement AbOUT the visual content of the video, relating its symbolism to his personal experiences of addiction and redemption. He also issued the following statement: "The video for 'Flush' is about crystal [...] addiction and the crazy things anyone addicted to [...] will do while they're high or to get their fix. Everything the models were doing in the video is what I was wrapped up in while I was addicted to [...]... I believe I would be dead right now if I continued using [...], but instead, I chose to surrender my life to Christ and die to myself so He could share His resurrection with me... Taking my CDs off the shelves because of a music video (that isn't being sold with the CD) is a bit too extreme! There is a huge message of hope on my CD and I believe those retailers that are pulling the CD from their shelves are robbing someone spiritually by taking it off of the shelves."

• LifeWay pulled the album over what one critic describes as "the verboten use of words like 'suck' and 'butt'."

• The original cover of Liberate Te Ex Inferis was a photo of the band, on which drummer Jesse Smith's tattoos were visible. The content of the bodyart in question pictured pin-up girls, which some Christians could interpret as [...], but for others, the tattoos alone would be enough to cause issues. The album was pulled by the Christian distributor before going to market, and the copies in question released to the general market. However, fallout for the band continued to be felt throughout the year 2000, as the band experienced canceled shows and festival appearances due to the controversy.

References

Citations

Bibliography

• .