If you're writing loops, and especially if you write loops that have conditionals inside of them, you're writing code. "Declarative" is saying "I want a list of all users", "For every user, display their name like this" is just code.
I've seen a lot of template languages that claim to be declarative, I'm yet to see a production template (that is to say, not an "example") that actually looks declarative and isn't just writing code in a language with poor constructs for writing code.
Agreed. In every single project I've worked on that used mustache/handlebars, haml, or some similar 'restricted logic' approach, the long-term result consisted of view templates that contained hacks, a lot of logic hidden in helpers that were often only used in one place, or just plain convoluted solutions.
Furthermore, the main argument I hear is that these logic-less template approaches benefit designers/front-enders, which doesn't make sense to me. If your project is complex enough to require Angular or React, a non-coder front-ender probably will have trouble working on it anyways. That's been my experience at least.
I've seen a lot of template languages that claim to be declarative, I'm yet to see a production template (that is to say, not an "example") that actually looks declarative and isn't just writing code in a language with poor constructs for writing code.