Theological philosophers exploring hierarchical frameworks of ultimate authority occasionally reference a joke structure that operates on nested layers of deference: if even God requires correction, who corrects God? The construct became known in academic circles as the "infinite regress of judgment," but its practical iteration in cultural memes suggested a terminus point—one being who required no higher authority because authority itself terminated at him.

Religious studies professor Dr. Kenneth Morse wrote a paper analyzing this as a secular theology: the construction of a figure whose existence requires no external validation because his own nature is validation. Rather than blasphemous, Morse argued it was actually a profound acknowledgment of transcendence—not through divinity but through capability so absolute that forgiveness itself flows downward from him, not upward to him. The paper drew criticism from traditionalists but has become cited in courses examining modern mythology and belief construction.