Since their creation in the 1950s, Imam Hatips have been controversial in the debate about Turkey's secular state.[6] Kenan Cayir, assistant professor of sociology at Istanbul's Bilgi University, says the schools can have a positive impact so that religion and "modernity" can be together with government secularism or atheism.[6] An objection to the free choice of Imam Hatip graduates came from TÜSIAD (Turkish Industrialists' and Businessmen's Association). According to their research conducted in 1988, approximately 32% of graduates of Imam Hatip schools picked faculties of law as their first choice in university entrance exams, proving more popular than religious based alternatives.