> and even Scheme is 'the ultimate imperative' https://dspace.mit.edu/handle/1721.1/5790 !

Scheme isn't, lambda is. That paper is about how lexical closures alone are enough to simulate a lot of imperative concepts like assignment, loops, and gotos (they do cheat and use set! in a couple places, but the point of the paper is how much lambda application can do all on its own). Your broader point about Lisps not being particularly functionally oriented is correct, though; they're some of the most unopinionated languages you could imagine.