Now that the Church of the Flying Spaghetti Monster has formed and gained True Believers, it is natural that some of you will become missionaries on behalf of the CotFSM. Sects of your converts will form which may go astray, commit heresies, or become sadly misinformed. As such, when a True Believer writes a LETTER explaining or clarifying official doctrine to put the "wrong ones" back on track, it probably should also be included here, and it should contain a reference to the original issue it is clarifying.
We already have Our Holy Prophet Bobby, To Whom the Flying Spaghetti Monster has manifested Him/Her/Itself, and to whom was given permission by His Holy Deliciousness to perform the task of revealing our formerly secret belief in the original set of indisputable facts regarding Flying Spaghetti Monsterism. If Bobby said it, particularly in the Open LETTER, Pastafarians world-wide know is to be held as the gold standard of Canon: Mountain, some trees, midget/midgit... Anything else that came from Bobby’s words is also canonical: Beer Volcano & Stripper Factory Heaven... Friday is the Holy Day... Flimsy Moral Standards... Pirate/Global Warming correlation... Must dress in full pirate regalia to teach the truths of the FSMism... Talk Like A Pirate Day is our High Annual Holy Day. These are indisputable.
Many of the other details have now been decided, and can be found in the announcements, stickies, and other posted works adjudicated by the Council of Olive Garden. When you missionaries write LETTERS to distant or heretical sects, please reference determined Canonical information.
The LETTERS that appear here are modeled on the LETTERS in mainstream Holy Texts. Distant sects of converts can often be culturally diverse from the True Believer missionaries who converted them in the first place. Converts may find beliefs from their previous religion or culture have crept into their new belief in FSMism in a way which causes problems for the newly converted Pastafarians.
In the two LETTERS to the Macaronians, Muellers I & II, for instance, the writer is a traveling "missionary" who at some point met the Macaronians and converted them to Pastafarianism. Apparently, the Macaronians were going along just fine until some of them began to argue about whether or not FSMism contained the idea of "eternal punishment in Hell." Somebody from the Macaronian fellowship has written to the missionary to ask for clarification (that from the Macaronian member is not shown here, but rather implied), and Muellers I is the clarification received by Macaronians from the missionary in response. Muellers II is the next issue that was in dispute, and the LETTER implies that apparently, the Macaronians had been stoning one another to death over the issue in the first LETTER!!! The FSM would be very upset about that indeed! :fsm_cry: :fsm_cry:



For purposes of writing a Canonical LETTER, a Pastafarian could imagine that the people to whom he/she is writing are recent converts to Pastafarianism, and they are writing to an FSMism "expert" for clarification of some issue that confuses them because of a previous belief their religion taught them which is very different than what Pastafarianism teaches. The resulting LETTER would be a LETTER in return to them, mentioning the issue it is clarifying, and then going on to clarify it for them.
These kinds of LETTERS can be tricky to write! The Pastafarian has to spend time becoming familiar with FSM doctrine & Canon. What, for instance, are the "Flimsy Moral Standards" all about? (the answer is in here somewhere! Look around, you'll find it.)
One of the central tenets of FSMism is that we don't mention other religious beliefs by name, or put them down. We can certainly refer to specific beliefs or practices such as awakening people at 8 am on Saturday morning to discuss the FSM, and whether that is acceptable for Pastafarians. (Perhaps the Rigatonians are writing to ask this, and you are responding to suggest that they wait until Saturday night and hit the local taverns dressed in Pirate regalia, stocked up with FSM pamphlets and enough dubloons to spring for a few pitchers of the Holy Beverages of Choice?)
You can always choose to be silly. For instance, you could imagine the "Vermicellians" have written to ask if the eating of hamsters (monkeys?) (tigers?) (zoo animals?) is acceptable. You probably wouldn't run against CotFSM Canonical doctrine to return a LETTER to them describing why feasting on the flesh of pets or endangered species is inappropriate.

If you want help shaping writing or bouncing around an idea, that is specifically what I'm here for.
The more help I give, the more doughnuts I get.
~s/s~