A potentially embarrassing situation was avoided when Cr David Wood was an apology at Wednesday night's Wingecarribee Shire Council meeting which included the reading of a statement of world peace from the Spiritual Assembly of the Baha'i.

Cr Wood had earlier stated that it was his intention to boycott the statement as he objected to receiving a speech from an organisation he claimed was connected to the Muslim faith.

The veteran councillor was planning to leave his chair in protest when the Baha'i took the floor in a deliberate snub to their followers, who have a retreat based at Yerrinbool.

However, that situation never materialised after council's general manager David McGowan said Cr Wood was one of two apologies at Wednesday's meeting, the other being Cr David Fairall.

Cr Larry Whipper, who introduced the motion last month calling for the Baha'i to be given the opportunity to speak, said it was "gross ignorance" by Cr Wood to claim the Baha'i were Muslims when they were persecuted by fundamentalist Muslims and forced to flee their own country.

During the past 10 years this statement of world peace has been presented to world leaders and heads of state of every country in the world, including Prime Minister John Howard and US presidents Ronald Reagan, George Bush and Bill Clinton.