DEKALB COUNTY, Alabama -- Giving Alabama teachers a big pay raise could go against the Bible, state Sen. Shadrack McGill (R-Woodville) said recently at a prayer breakfast in north Alabama,

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But McGill supports the 62 percent pay increase the legislature gave itself in 2007 because means lawmakers are now less susceptible to taking bribes, the paper reported.

Regarding teacher pay, McGill said: "It's a Biblical principle. If you double a teacher's pay scale, you'll attract people who aren't called to teach. To go in and raise someone's child for eight hours a day, or many people's children for eight hours a day, requires a calling. It better be a calling in your life. I know I wouldn't want to do it, OK?"

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