Editing Reverend Lovejoy (section)

==Creation and reception==
[[Matt Groening]] has indicated that Lovejoy is named after Lovejoy Street (which in turn is named for Portland co-founder [[Asa Lovejoy]])<ref name=Oregon>Corning, Howard M. ''Dictionary of Oregon History''. Binfords & Mort Publishing, 1956.</ref> in [[Portland, Oregon]], the city where Groening grew up.<ref>Turnquist, Kristi. Cover Story: D'oh! ''[[The Oregonian]]'', July 27, 2007.</ref><ref>Carlin, Peter Ames. 'The Simpsons' Cleaverly captures an even bigger slice of Portland life. ''[[The Oregonian]]'', November 4, 2000.</ref><ref>Levy, Shawn. Matt Groening: On what's so funny about Portland. ''[[The Oregonian]]'', September 3, 1999.</ref> When the character was created, producer [[Sam Simon]] did not want Lovejoy to be a "cartoony hypocritical preacher" but rather "a realistic person who just happened to work as a minister," as recalled by writer [[Al Jean]].<ref name=autogenerated1>{{cite book |last=Pinsky |first=Mark I. |date=2001 |title=The Gospel According to The Simpsons: The Spiritual Life of America's Most Animated Family |url=https://archive.org/details/gospelaccordingt00mark|url-access=registration |location=Louisville, Kentucky |publisher=Westminster John Knox Press |page=[https://archive.org/details/gospelaccordingt00mark/page/69 69]–70 |isbn=9780664224196}}</ref> By season eight, the show had begun to explore secondary characters with Lovejoy being the central character in the episode "[[In Marge We Trust]]" because, aside from being noted as "the pastor who didn't care", he had not had much character development.<ref name=commentary>{{cite video|people=Weinstein, Josh|title=The Simpsons: The Complete Eighth Season DVD Video Collector's Edition commentary for the episode "In Marge We Trust"|medium=DVD|publisher=Twentieth Century Fox|date=2006}}</ref> Author Mark I. Pinsky writes of Lovejoy as "a foil in the series, personifying many of the failings of organized religion and Christian conservatism," and yet still a real human with faults and not simply evil.<ref name=autogenerated1 /> [[Harry Shearer]] has stated that his voice for the character is based on [[Ernest Angley]].