Bible Says Thou Shalt Not Give Teachers A Raise, Argues State Senator

There are a lot of arguments out there for why teachers' salaries should be higher or lower. But the Bible must be a new one. Shadrack McGill, a first-term Republican state senator in Alabama, made the case at a prayer breakfast Monday that teachers shouldn't get a raise, because then they'd be drawn to the job for the wrong reasons.

"It's a Biblical principle," he said, while admitting that he wouldn't want to do a teacher's job.

Before launching into his philosophy on teachers' pay, McGill justified the 62 percent pay raise Alabama's legislators had given themselves in 2007 -- over a governor's veto. This brought their salaries to $49,500 a year. Legislators in the state meet for only 30 days a year, so earn $1,650 per day. McGill said the raise made politicians less susceptible to bribes.