Is violence unjustifiable in any circumstances?

'Reading between the lines', I suspect the question may not have been carefully composed, and that the asker intended to ask "In what circumstance(s) is violence justifiable?"

Well, actually, violence is unjustifiable in practically all circumstances. As people, it seems culture and history offers us several kinds of action in the face of violence: attack, defend, escape or do nothing. As 'violence' is a wide ranging notion, one must consider what it is first, when one wants to bring about a catch-all answer.

Violence, in human interaction, is physical - from harming oneself, through person to person and on to world war. It can also be psychological, sexual, racial, religious, political and cultural (and I don't think the types end there!).

In larger-scale terms, dealing with violence tends to be classed as either 'pacifism', 'defence' and 'nonviolence'.

Nonviolence has been practised by Jesus Christ, Buddha, 'The Mahatma' Gandhi, Martin Luther King Jr., and Mario (Silo) Rodriguez amongst millions of others. The protesters in Burma, against the ruling military junta, are engaging in non-violence (late Sept. 2007).

I contend the only time violence is justifiable, is when one is cornered by another who is violent to you, and you have no escape nor assistance. And in such times, one must only do enough violence, if one has any choice, to create an opportunity to escape the immediate violence. From then on, to stop likely future violence, one must defend oneself and isolate, protest, shame and/or broadcast the wrong done.

Nonviolence was not really practiced by Jesus Christ. John 2:12 describes Jesus clearing the temple, which was a violent act performed out of His passion for His Father. Verse 17 states: His disciples remembered that it is written: Zeal for your house will consume me. And that it did.

Whether this justifies violence in any circumstance is hard to say. The heart and soul of Jesus is one with God, so He is therefore at one with His will as well. It would be at the very least a risk for someone to assume that God desires them to do violence againsed another person, but it could happen.