Any school which does not teach the existence of God "is actually teaching atheism," the president of Texas Christian University told a convention of The Disciples of Christ yesterday.

"As applied to our education, we have interpreted the great principle of religious freedom to mean freedom from religion, and have permitted the development of an educational system which has produced a secularized, materialized society," he went on.

He held that "a system of education which does not teach religion nor strengthen faith in God would have been most displeasing and disquieting to those who wrote our constitution."

Calling on the private church-related schools and colleges to lead the way, he dismissed the threat of government control of education if religion were properly taught.

But, he concluded, "unless these private colleges and universities survive, there is not even a possibility for the survival of any other type of private enterprise."