What began as a practical mark on wartime relief papers became, in the decades after, the shared symbol of Unitarian Universalism around the world, though its adoption was gradual rather than immediate: it did not appear as an emblem of the Unitarian Universalist Association, formed by the 1961 merger of the Unitarian and Universalist denominations, until it was printed on the title page of the UUA Directory in 1976 and 1977, thirty-five years after Deutsch first drew it for the Service Committee. It now appears on buildings, publications and orders of service, and the lighting of a chalice at the opening of worship is a widespread ritual act in congregations, often accompanied by spoken words that name the community's values.
The symbol carries no fixed doctrinal content, which suits a tradition that gathers people of varied belief, including humanists, theists, Buddhists and Christians within a single congregation; its flame is read broadly as the light of reason, freedom and the search for truth, and its cup as community and shared service. Variations in design are common, and no single official form is imposed, so congregations and denominational bodies outside the United States, including Unitarian communities in Britain, Transylvania and elsewhere that trace their own histories independently of the American merger, have adopted the chalice on their own terms rather than by directive.