Christian album banned due to cover art

NEW YORK, Dec. 9 (UPI) -- The latest album by Christian rock band P.O.D. has been banned by 85 percent of Christian bookstores due to its cover art, the group reports.

Despite the ban, the album, "Payable On Death," which is also what the group's initials stand for, is slated to be certified gold by the Recording Industry Association of America, P.O.D.'s Web site said.

Albums that sell more than 500,000 copies are certified gold.

The album, which was released Nov. 4 by Atlantic Records, features cover art depicting a person bound by rope with large butterfly wings attached.

U.S. Christian bookstores think the art is "occult," Daniel Martin Diaz, the cover's artist, said in an interview with Australia's Undercover.com.

On P.O.D.'s Web site the band members urged fans to support Christian retailers who carry the album and to stay way from those that don't.

P.O.D. will tour with popular rock bands Linkin Park and Hoobastank beginning in mid-January.