Categories: Need to know

Punk band draws federal government's ire

Living With Lions criticized for releasing government-funded album that mocks religion

by macleans.ca on Thursday, May 19, 2011 2:08pm - 16 Comments

The Vancouver punk band Living With Lions has drawn the ire of Canadian Heritage Minister James Moore, due to the band’s controversial new album entitled Holy Sh-t, which was funded in part by the Canadian government. The album is packaged in the likeness of the Bible and compares religious imagery to excrement. The liner notes acknowledge the government’s support through FACTOR (Foundation Assisting Canadian Talent on Recordings), which approved $13,248 in funding to the band’s label, Black Box Recordings Inc. “The content of this CD is offensive and the fact that that it is clearly designed to offend a group of Canadians based on their faith is simply wrong,” Moore’s spokesman, James Maunder, told the Vancouver Sun. “The Minister has called Duncan McKie, president and CEO of FACTOR to express his profound disappointment with this content.” Black Box Recordings co-owner Ian Stanger responded by saying the album title and content should be interpreted with a sense of humour, saying, “I think there’s a tongue-in-cheek element of this recording people may be missing.

The Vancouver Sun

Tags: religion

http://www.facebook.com/people/Marty-Johnson/515055890 Marty Johnson

Someone should tell Mr. Moody to grow up. This isn’t medieval Spain.
http://www.facebook.com/people/Marty-Johnson/515055890 Marty Johnson

Someone should tell Mr. Moody to grow up. This isn’t medieval Spain.

Anonymous

Nobody expects the Spanish Inquisition! (although Moore may sigh fondly when he thinks of it)

http://www.facebook.com/people/Marty-Johnson/515055890 Marty Johnson

Someone should tell Mr. Moody to grow up. This isn’t medieval Spain.
Anonymous

I wonder what wouild be libs reaction if they put Quoran on cover of the CD…….
Anonymous

Again, it is important we mock only the one religion which offers freedom. All other religions take severe offense to crude and tasteless imagery.

T Williams

They (religions) are all social mechanisms designed to enslave and milk the general populace for profit and positions of authority. Wake the hell up.
http://pulse.yahoo.com/_3OTK7D2T4XFIAOCRNFHDSRJOXE Eddie

Actually it is. Because if we mock the psychotic cult, lives will be lost…unnecessarily.
Oh, and just to inform you, only ONE religion is a cult. The rest do offer freedom of thought and action. But like everything else, this subject is open to interpretation/perspective.

Anonymous

Again, it is important we mock only the one religion which offers freedom. All other religions take severe offense to crude and tasteless imagery.
T Williams

Will these mythological beliefs and oversensitiveness ever go away? Logic is prevailing. Ancient nomadic dessert dweller’s fairy tales are obviously irrelevant. The only sacred thing left to defend is life.

http://pulse.yahoo.com/_3OTK7D2T4XFIAOCRNFHDSRJOXE Eddie

Logic is not prevailing. I think this article is clear enough about that. People still want to allow fantasy and fairy tales to guide their actions so that they can avoid responsibility for them. And that sadly is the state of the union.

http://harebell.wordpress.com/ harebell

So if I got this right Moore likes giving grants to encourage artistic freedom but not the freedom to laugh at his preferred superstition. The xtians here seem to be upset along these lines too.

Chill guys if the latest xtian prophet is right you’ve only got a half hour or so till the rapture arriveth and armageddon begins.
http://harebell.wordpress.com/ harebell

So if I got this right Moore likes giving grants to encourage artistic freedom but not the freedom to laugh at his preferred superstition. The xtians here seem to be upset along these lines too.

Chill guys if the latest xtian prophet is right you’ve only got a half hour or so till the rapture arriveth and armageddon begins.
Anonymous

MacLeans, you might want to let your readers know just what % of FACTOR’s funding actually comes from the Federal government vs. the private sector. Don’t you think that’s an important detail that would allow readers to reach an intelligent conclusion about whether their taxdollars are, in fact, making a substantial contribution to this band?
Anonymous

MacLeans, you might want to let your readers know just what % of FACTOR’s funding actually comes from the Federal government vs. the private sector. Don’t you think that’s an important detail that would allow readers to reach an intelligent conclusion about whether their taxdollars are, in fact, making a substantial contribution to this band?
Anonymous

MacLeans, you might want to let your readers know just what % of FACTOR’s funding actually comes from the Federal government vs. the private sector. Don’t you think that’s an important detail that would allow readers to reach an intelligent conclusion about whether their taxdollars are, in fact, making a substantial contribution to this band?