Thursday night, Christianity Today, long known as the “flagship” magazine of American evangelicalism, broke the internet with an editorial arguing for the impeachment and removal of Donald Trump from office. The piece, penned by the magazine’s outgoing editor, Mark Galli, implored evangelicals to consider the “unambiguous facts” of the impeachment case against the president, maintaining his actions not only violated the Constitution, but were also “profoundly immoral.”

The reaction — particularly from non-evangelicals — was excited and swift. “Whoa” and “big deal” led links to the piece on Twitter, suggesting that, after Mr. Trump spent four wildly successful years consolidating the support of white evangelicals, the magazine’s lofty stand would finally trigger a fatal exodus by this crucial demographic. The magazine’s website, apparently buckling under the unusual spate of traffic, was down for part of the evening, but that did not stop the avalanche of coverage on television, news sites and social media. “This is mainstream evangelical Christianity leadership,” remarked CNN’s Wolf Blitzer, reading segments of the “amazing” editorial on the air.

For many outsiders, Christianity Today seems to speak for millions of evangelicals. After all, the magazine was founded by Billy Graham, the pastor to presidents since Eisenhower. A pro-impeachment editorial would appear to be a game-changer — undermining the seemingly unmovable support for the president among white evangelicals.

That assumption, though, profoundly misapprehends American evangelicalism in the Trump era.

Since his 2016 election, in which 81 percent of white evangelicals voted for him, Mr. Trump continues to enjoy their unwavering loyalty. Three-quarters of white evangelicals approve of his job performance, and 80 percent of them remain opposed to impeaching him.