Editing Larry Norman (section)

===Relationship with the church and Christian music industry===
Throughout his career, Norman had a contentious relationship with the wider Christian church and with the [[Christian music industry]]. He wrote in September 2007, "I love God and I follow Jesus but I just don't have much affinity for the organized folderol of the churches in the Western World."<ref>Larry Norman, "Why Should the Devil Have All the Good Music?", Liner Notes, ''Rebel Poet, Jukebox Balladeer: The Anthology'' (September 2007).</ref> Norman's music addressed a wide range of social issues, such as politics, free love, the occult, the passive commercialism of wartime journalists, and religious hypocrisy, that were outside the scope of his contemporaries.<ref name="KXL">{{Cite web |last=Hagestadt |first=André |title=Larry Norman |url=http://www.kxl.com/ArDisplay.aspx?SecID=13&ID=15847 |website=[[KXL-FM]]}} {{dead link |date=June 2016|bot=medic}}{{cbignore|bot=medic}}</ref> Defending the confrontational approach of his music, Norman said, "My primary emphasis is not to entertain. But if your art is boring, people will reject your message as well as your art."<ref>Larry Norman, quoted in Marlene D. LeFever, ''Creative Teaching Methods'' (David C. Cook, 1996):21.</ref> In the 1980s, he complained that Christian music generally meant "sloppy thinking, dishonest metaphors and bad poetry," and that he had "never been able to get over the shock of how bad the lyrics are."<ref name="twoln1984-2">{{Cite web |last=Norman |first=Larry |title=Strait Interview 1984 |url=http://twoln.clutteredsoul.com/intvw84.html |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20131212125931/http://twoln.clutteredsoul.com/intvw84.html |archive-date=December 12, 2013 |access-date=August 3, 2019 |website=Cluttered Soul: The Words of Larry Norman}}</ref>

Norman disapproved of Christian musicians who were unwilling to play in secular venues or to "preach" between songs.<ref>{{Cite web |last=Spencer |first=Michael |title=So Long Ago, When CCM Wasn't Awful |url=http://www.internetmonk.com/articles/L/larry.html |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130730141413/http://www.internetmonk.com/articles/L/larry.html |archive-date=July 30, 2013 |website=The Internet Monk}}</ref> He also criticized what he saw as the "commercialization of Christian music in America",<ref name=twoln1984-2/> including the role of copyrights and licensing.<ref name="Philip Cooney 2008" />