A British bus company is asking Mormon missionaries to stop proselytizing its riders, especially telling passengers that their faith is all wrong.

“We do not permit any commercial or other organization to promote their products, services or views,” Stephie Barber, operations manager for the company, Stagecoach in Lancaster, told the Lancaster Guardian, “through direct engagement with passengers on our services.”

Robert Preston, president of the England Manchester LDS Mission, told the paper that he has encouraged his missionaries — about 140 young people in his charge — to talk to people on buses about their religion, but “we would not want people to feel intimidated.”

If a person does not want to hear the Mormon message, Preston said, the missionaries “should move away.”

Bus policies may now make even polite faith-filled conversations off-limits for the young missionaries and the Utah-based church.

Peggy Fletcher Stack