==Defenders of the literal interpretation== 
 Some have defended against this criticism by emphasizing pacifisim, arguing that this teaching can serve justice when used as the philosophy behind passive resistance as practiced by Mohandas Gandhi and Martin Luther King, Jr., in which the practitioner of this tactic turns the other cheek in an effort to turn the aggressors' violence against himself. 

 :This is just not true.  King never preached "turn the other cheek", and he stated that Negros (now called African-Americans) have the right to use physical force to defend their lives. This was a point he stressed after his famous meeting with Malcom X.  And while I am not a fan of the early or mid-life Malcom X, he was absolutely correct to say that Negros must not lie down and allow white racists to beat them and murder them.  Martin Luther King, Jr., did not take the murder of anyone lightly.  As for Gandhi, he publicly incited the mass murder of Indians in order to arouse public sympathy around the world.  This is not "turning the other cheek".  Only Gandhi's most syncophantic apologists can see promoting mass-beatings and mass-killings as "turning the other cheek."