Seriously though: The Elven chieftains who went to Valinor and returned to talk their peoples into coming along, would (one would think) a status somewhat similar to, say Moses or the prophets.  But since they apparently started out as "secular" leaders, they remain so. 

Factor in life with the Valar, who are kingly and hierarchical and, yeah, high-falutin' about it (at least, all the ones who live on land are ;)-and who, by their very nature, blur the concept of secular and sacred very thoroughly.  And basically, you could, I guess, get some kind of concept of kinghood-as-sacred function (which is a reality in LOTR, certainly, it doesn't give the kings divine so much as divine responsibilities), in the time between Ingwe and Elwe hitting the westernmost shore and the death of Elwe.  It would go some ways to explain Feanor's power over the Noldor also: their king/holyman is dead, they're troubled and confused, and his heir's will takes on a power out of all proportion to its sanity or relevance to their lives.